PM Modi will decide who will be CM, says Shiv Sena

The race for the post of the chief minister of Maharashtra is fast becoming controversial, with allies Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) trying to get their people the chair.

Both Munde and Fadnavis are said to be frontrunners for the CM’s post in Maharashtra, which has irked the Shiv Sena. File pics

In an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana, Shiv Sena has strongly criticised Union Minister for Rural Development Gopinath Munde and state BJP chief Devendra Fadnavis for wanting the top post in the state.

Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut has put forth his boss Uddhav Thackeray’s name for the post

The acerbic words came in reaction to comments by Fadnavis, who had said that Munde “had been sent out on loan to Delhi and shall be brought back to Maharashtra with interest.”

mid-day’s June 2 report on the wall painting near the Thackeray residence, calling for Gopinath Munde as CM

Reacting to this, the editorial reads: “In Maharashtra, interest-based loans are banned by moneylenders. The public is angry with moneylenders. Hence, if anyone would do this work, it would be only the public.”

This comes close on the heels of posters and a wall painting that sprung up metres away from the Thackeray residence in Kalanagar, which had said: Delhi mein Modi sarkar, Maharashtra mein ab ki baar Gopinath Munde sarkar (Modi government in Delhi and Gopinath Munde government in Maharashtra.)

The editorial also compared Munde to Sharad Pawar, “who is physically in Delhi but has his heart in Maharashtra.” It also claims that there’s too much of a discussion going in BJP over the coveted post, for which many names like (Eknath) Khadse, (Vinod) Tawde, Munde and Fadnavis are being thrown up.

In another section of the BJP, there is a push for Fadnavis, with the slogan: Delhi mein Narendra, Maharashtra mein Devendra (Narendra Modi in Delhi and Devendra Fadnavis in Maharashtra). However, the writer compares the party to the Reserve Bank, and says the final decision will lie with PM Narendra Modi, who “play politics of loans.” Ultimately, the party seems to have conceded to Big Brother BJP.

While the piece itself doesn’t propose a Shiv Sena candidate for the post, the party’s MP in Rajya Sabha and spokesperson, Sanjay Raut, told reporters in a press conference that he would want his chief Uddhav Thackeray as the CM. This, after archrival Raj Thackeray of the MNS announced his candidature for the upcoming state assembly elections, in a bid to become the CM of the state.

Senior BJP leaders do want to speak up against the piece, but don’t want to bust the alliance. A top Sena leader told this correspondent that whatever had to be said, has been said in the article. Munde, who was on good terms with Uddhav Thackeray, seems to have lost out on the goodwill after garnering support from Raj for getting elected from the Beed Lok Sabha constituency.